The Mysterious Missing Rocket Photos

In preparing this article for publication, I went online looking for photos of missiles being launched by Hamas. I flipped through a slideshow at the Los Angeles Times, which features 99 images from the current conflict.

Incredibly, there was not a single photo of Hamas fighters, nor of the 3,000 Hamas rockets fired in the past month. Not even a single caption mentions the word "Hamas"!

Here we are, in the midst of a major international conflict being covered by thousands of media personnel. Hamas is launching 100 missiles a day, and there are 15,000 Hamas fighters roaming the Gaza Strip. How can it be there are no photos of Palestinian rocket crews or missiles being fired?

Simple. Hamas tightly controls the flow of information out of Gaza, and as NBC’s Martin Fletcher once explained: Hamas “simply threatens to kill anybody who films them” firing missiles.

This policy of threat and intimidation is actually written into the Palestinian legal code, where journalists may be fined and jailed for publishing “news that might harm national unity.”

These threats and intimidation play out in daily coverage of the Gaza conflict.

Last week, when the French newspaper Liberation reported that Hamas headquarters are embedded at Shifa hospital in Gaza, the article was quickly deleted from the online record.

Journalist Gabriel Barbati reported that a Hamas rocket hit the Al-Shati hospital and killed Palestinian children. Yet Barbati only did so after he was – in his words – “Out of Gaza, far from Hamas retaliation.”

When Wall Street Journal correspondent Tamer El-Ghobashy tweeted that a strike on a Gaza hospital was likely the result of a Hamas missile, the tweet was – you guessed it – promptly deleted.

Self-Censorship

Imagine you’re on assignment in Gaza City. You witness some Palestinians committing a heinous act of violence and manage to surreptitiously snap some photos. You now have an exclusive story that will make the front page. But you hesitate. Since the information portrays Palestinians in a negative light, you consider the consequences: Will my house be raided and my camera smashed? Will thisjeopardize my access to future stories and eventually cost me my job? Will I be kidnapped and not see my family for months?Why take the chance?

These fearful thoughts play in a journalist’s head, resulting in a form of self-censorship. With stories of Palestinian thuggery and violence deemed off-limits, a reporter’s perspective undergoes a subconscious shift, which then plays out in everyday reporting – or more significantly, systematic “non”-reporting – of important news. As the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group explained:

Self-censorship is considered more serious than external censorship because it not only prevents the journalist from publishing what he writes, but it also hinders his writing, thinking or analyzing. He or she would not think of wasting time writing material that will surely not be published...

The insidious part of self-censorship is that consumers never know it’s being practiced. When a journalist sits down to write a story, the part you’ll never see is the hesitation and the “pause,” given the consequences of telling the truth about Palestinians. One journalist put it this way: “The worst the Israelis can do is take away our press cards. But if we irritate… Hamas, you don’t know who might be waiting in your kitchen when you come home at night.”

Pulitzer Prize-winner Thomas Friedman described the problem a bit more bluntly: Upon learning that Palestinian officials wanted to see him “immediately” to discuss the stories he’d been writing for the New York Times, he “lay awake in my bed the whole night worrying that someone was going to burst in and blow my brains all over the wall.”

This has been going on for years. During the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, Time magazine contributor Christopher Allbritton described it like this: “Hezbollah is launching Katyushas, but I’m loathe to say too much about them. The Party of God (Hezbollah) has a copy of every journalist’s passport...”

So this is what media coverage of the Mideast conflict boils down to: “A copy of every journalist’s passport.” Time and again, through the force of intimidation, news stories that would tilt public opinion against Palestinians are being erased from the record. And media consumers are none the wiser.

Beyond the threat of physical abuse, another insidious reason why journalists are loathe to criticize Hamas is that doing so cuts off their access to sources of information and interviews. Like any business, the news media needs to keep supply lines open, otherwise their product – in this case, the storyline – will dry up. So in order to preserve access, journalists are willing to go along with a degree of manipulation and blackmail.

As Amnesty International has reported:

[Journalists in Palestinian areas] now admit that they practice self-censorship, either by modifying the manner in which they report a story or not reporting or commenting on certain topics at all. Even if a journalist is prepared to take risks, his or her editor may not be willing to carry the responsibility of authorizing publication of a critical article...

At many levels, this is a massive cover-up.

Fatwa Fears

These bullying tactics extend even beyond the realm of hard news. When London’s Independent published a grotesque cartoon depicting Israel’s prime minister eagerly devouring a Palestinian baby, the cartoon was so vile that it was later adopted by radical Islamic groups as an icon of their anti-Israel campaign. So imagine my shock when the British Political Cartoon Society awarded this first prize in its annual “Cartoon of the Year” competition.

I contacted Dr. Tim Benson, director of the Cartoon Society, to question not only the inaccuracy of portraying “Israeli-style infanticide,” but also the ethics of giving an award to such a biased cartoon. Benson responded by taking the moral high road:

You have all taken this award completely out of perspective and context. Shame on you! We do so much good. If only you looked at our website properly you would have noticed that in fact we promote anti-fascism and educate about the dangers of extremism.

I always try to take criticism seriously, so when he said, “Shame on you,” I reasoned that I must have misjudged this one, unfairly accusing him of anti-Israel bias.

That theory was shot to pieces a few months later when filmmaker Martin Himel interviewed Benson and asked him to explain why political cartoonists frequently portray Israelis as Nazis, devils and cannibals – while Palestinian leaders are not depicted in similarly vile ways. In a moment of candor, Benson was caught on camera saying:

Well, if you upset an Islamic or Muslim group, as you know, fatwas can be issued by Ayatollahs and such, and maybe it’s at the back of each cartoonist’s mind, that they could be in trouble if they do so.

Now we get it. Israelis are vilified because Jews don’t issue death fatwas. And Western journalists, the supposed standard-bearers of objectivity and ethics, are kowtowing to Hamas intimidation, practicing self-censorship out of fear and violating their most basic duty to report the facts.

Last week in Gaza, when Wall Street Journal correspondent Nick Casey tweeted a photo of a Hamas official stationed at Shifa hospital, the tweet was deleted the next day.

Meanwhile, democratic Israel vigilantly guards its freedom of the press, where journalists eagerly air their criticisms of Israeli policy. The result is that new coverage is skewed in favor of the Palestinians, leaving Israel to fight the battle for public opinion with one hand tied behind its back.

Rabbi Shraga Simmons is the co-founder of Aish.com, and co-author of "48 Ways to Wisdom" (ArtScroll). He is Founder and Director of Aish.com's advanced learning site. He is co-founder of HonestReporting.com, and author of "David & Goliath", the definitive account of anti-Israel media bias. Originally from Buffalo, New York, he holds a degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He lives with his wife and children in the Modi'in region of Israel.

I have seen bullies like Hamas, the Nazis, Al-quaida, etc prosper and gain in influence because people are really cowards. Those that know the truth love the money they get paid or their life more than they love the truth. It is a shame because when no one stands for the truth, these bullies continue to grow into the monsters they really are.

(8)
Anonymous,
August 5, 2014 3:45 PM

Pictures worth a thousand words

A picture is worth a thousand words and a video ten thousand words. Hamas understands this , we Jews do not!

Abu Zuhri had arrived at the hospital for an interview with a news outlet.

The residents blamed Hamas for the death of family members and for destruction of their homes. Armed Hamas terrorists from the Izzedine al-Kassam Brigades extricated Abu Zuri and arrested the angry residents.

Arabic website vetogate.com said that reporters in Gaza are well aware of the incident but are afraid to report it, because Hamas's security agency could go after them if they do.

A week ago, Palestinian sources reported that over 30 Palestinians were executed by Hamas, most of them in the Shejaiya neighborhood. Hamas claimed that they were collaborators with Israel.

Channel 10 said that Hamas executed 20 residents of Shejaiya who had dared demonstrate against Hamas.

(6)
Yehudith Shraga,
August 5, 2014 9:38 AM

Thank you for speaking out loud

For people who really want to know what this world is about the journalism is never a source of information.As the article brilliantly shows,it may never be trusted,because it never shows objective reality,it just shows the world through reporters getting interests such as safety,salary,popularity and so on.The journalism faces the end as a source of information on the world around, because nothing permanent can sprout out of the getting attitude.Any profession, organization,or state,if motivated by getting attitude,finally become the servant of evil inclinations and serve the ego distractive purpose on the personality,society and humanity in general.Ego is the cancer of the soul, and if not treated accordingly, kills one's conscious, moral, ethics and spirituality.Facing the distractive activity of the ego within your personality, community,nation and treating it with the help of Torah study and performing Mitzvot is taught by our Sages for thousand years, still the world won't listen and try to invent different ways out, such as democracy, freedom of speech, human rights and so on, while these all are just nice words, which are not backed by any data from reality, if democracy is worth serving somebody's ego, it is used, but the moment the above qualities demand sacrifice of ego, they are somehow stopping to exists for those who are not ready for the bestowing attitude to the life.As for the fear, whose who fear the people, do not believe in G-d, because He is the Only Source, which brings to the reality this or that outcome of our actions. It seems that Islamic Extremism is very useful for the Western societies, because they have found in it their antidote to their so called freedom of speech, because they use the Islamic terrorism as the opportunity to tell those who mistakenly do believe in freedom of speech, that the ego has a lot of different covers, but under them there are the same getting instincts, which are common for west and east.

(5)
ben,
August 4, 2014 6:05 PM

inequality of reporting

I once again find myself the only person in my social circle standing up for Israel and its right to defend itself. The inequality of the medias reporting of the conflict leading them once again (as in other palestinian-Israeli conflicts) to vilify Israel as the aggressor. Maybe when i bring to their attention the lack of reporting on the Palestinian aggression they may actually look into the conflict in more detail, although unfortunately i doubt it.

(4)
Anonymous,
August 4, 2014 4:15 PM

It is sad that we have so few honest and fearless journalists. Israel should be winning the PR war but isn't and it mainly because of the cowardly press.

(3)
Markus,
August 4, 2014 2:45 PM

Cat and Mouse

As long as they only delete, nobody is killed. As the world deletes, Israel has to defend the truth and bring the truth to the world ... and remember one day this game is finished ... then our Creator begins to delete ... Be patient. Shalom

(2)
Yehudeit Snyder,
August 4, 2014 1:24 PM

IF we think we are safe here, It could happen here in the USA.

When I lived in Texas I witnessed many Arabs living in Texas as Mexican Immigrants. Many had jobs as apartment maintenance men who more than once wrote on and under my mezusah the Aleph in Arabic and the sword of Muhammad, on the outside of my door and inside my apartment. They are here in the USA, so we that live outside of Israel need to support Israel during this time of grave hardship in the Israel, we could be next.

(1)
Dr. Mom,
August 3, 2014 4:11 PM

Other missing photos

There are other photos we don't see - The funerals of Palestinian women;The hair, arms, and legs of Palestinian women - they have no religious freedom;The funerals or Hamas members;The hospital Israel set up in Gaza to provide medical care to civilians (where in the history of war has that happened before?);Israeli children crying in a bomb shelter; orIsraeli property damage.

The photos shown are not always from Gaza (as the BBC found out), undoctored, and uncensored. They are as misleading as the "reported" deaths of Gazan "civilians" (no Hamas members have apparently died in this conflict. . . .)